Democrats: our bullseye targets on House districts are not like Palin’s crosshair targets

Sarah Palin’s use of crosshairs to target Democratic House incumbents is dangerous symbolism, Democrats say. But a party spokesman says it’s “a stretch” to compare Palin’s imagery to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s use of red and white bullseyes last year to target Republican incumbents.

Broward County Democratic Chairman Mitch Ceasar played the Palin card this week when he condemned GOP congressional hopeful Allen West for urging tea partyers to make Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Klein “scared to come out of his house.”

Palin endorsed West last week. So Ceasar noted that the former Alaska governor and VP nominee also recently “unveiled a national political map using rifle crosshairs to mark the members of Congress across the country who supported healthcare reform.”

Klein isn’t on Palin’s map, but, Ceasar said, “West and his mentor Sarah Palin are shamefully stoking violent language and symbolism that threatens the safety of our leaders and public officials.”

Some in the conservative blogosphere contend there’s not much difference between Palin’s map and the Democrats’ placement of bullseyes on the districts of “targeted Republicans” who voted against the $787 billion stimulus bill.

Said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Andy Sere: “We’re waiting with bated breath for an acknowledgment that all their recent outrage has been manufactured for political gain. In the meantime, we’re asking Merriam-Webster to add ‘D-C-C-C’ as an alternate spelling for ‘hypocrisy.’ ”

DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer said Palin’s map must be considered in the context of her famous Twitter tweet last month: “Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!”

After the “reload” tweet caused an uproar, Palin said at a Nevada tea party rally: “When we talk about fighting for our country, let’s clear the air right now about what it is that we’re talking about. We’re not inciting violence. Don’t get sucked into the lame-stream media lies.”

Notwithstanding that disavowal, Rudominer says Palin’s map and tweet are evidence of extremism while the Democratic map is no more threatening than a certain retailer’s logo.

“Talk about a stretch — Sarah Palin is an extremist who recklessly used a rifle scope graphic after she wrote ‘Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!’ in the midst of a number of death threats against lawmakers. If some on the right such as the NRCC think our graphic is an issue, they must have issues with Target stores as well,” Rudominer said.